Fixing Reality
by Starlight Warrior 1092
Summary: Sequel to Jump. Fighting to save their brother's life, each brother has a different way of thinking what happened. I mean, what could cause such a happy-go-lucky guy to try to commit suicide? Will they be able to save him? And even if they do... will Mikey ever be the same again?


**So many people were asking for a sequel to Jump. At first, I wanted to say no. I can't write sequels, especially if the first one is a dark oneshot. I only write those when I get to mad and depressed that I need to vent my anger into my writing. Well, that happened again. Christmas Eve, I believe. You don't want to have my brother as your brother...**

**So here it is, I don't own Ninja Turtles.**

As his body hit the cold, unforgiving river, the entire world seemed to stop. The rain seemed to quiet down to a subtle drizzle, barely making a noise as the three brothers stood there, motionless. None of them knew what to do, or what to _think_ about what had just happened. What _had_ happened? Did their younger brother really just… jump into the river?

The second youngest of the brothers was the first to do anything about what had just happened. He rushed over towards the fire escape, quick as lightning, and didn't waste any time rushing down to the ground far below. There was only one thought racing through his mind at the moment. _Is Mikey alright?_

On the rooftop, the two oldest were starting to comprehend what had just happened.

"H-he… he jumped," The blue masked brother murmured, as if he hadn't just seen it with his two eyes. Was this world just a dream? Was it just a harsh nightmare that he would wake up from to find his youngest brother safe with his family? Or was this reality? What could possibly have made pure, innocent little Mikey make a decision as _brainless_ as to leap off of the top of a freaking _building_ in the middle of a storm? What was he _thinking?!_

"Mikey," The second eldest brother murmured, his eyes closed tightly. His head shook slowly, not wanting to believe what had just happened. Seconds later, his golden eyes flashed open and he raced after the purple masked turtle and down the fire escape.

The leader stood all alone on the rooftop, not sure if he should follow his brothers or if he should wait to wake up. Slowly, as if he wasn't even in control of his own body, he followed the younger two off of the building and towards the surging river.

By the time the blue masked brother had made it over to the river, the other two had already managed to pull the youngest from the soaking depths and back onto the shore.

"Is he…?" Leo wasn't even sure how he wanted to finish the sentence. _Dead? Alive?_

"He's still alive," Don whispered. "Barely."

The one word was enough to send fear into the hearts of the three brothers. There was a chance that he wasn't going to live- a _high_ chance, if they didn't get him care soon. Without needing words to communicate, the brothers carefully picked up the limp form of the fourth and began taking him back to their home underground.

The eldest spent the entire time thinking about what could've caused this to happen. Had something happened that made him so depressed? Was it something that he had done to hurt the youngest? Leo hoped not, since he would never want to put his littlest brother through enough pain to send him over the edge.

_Just pull through this, Mikey,_ Leo thought sadly. _You're strong, you can do it._

The red masked brother could feel the anger growing inside of him from the moment his brother's body hit the river. It was almost uncontrollable, only being tamed by the fear that he might lose the orange masked goofball. He _hated_ the decision that Mikey had made, and wished that he would've seen what was going on before any of it had happened.

_Did I do something to ya, Mike? Is that why ya thought killin' yerself was the only answer?_ Raph thought, his fists clenched. The more that Raph thought about it, the more he realized that Mikey had been acting a lot quieter in the past few days, if not weeks… he wanted to punch himself for not noticing earlier. _Ya have ta make it through this, Mike! I won't let ya die!_

On the way back towards the Lair, all Don could think about was saving his brother's life. He had already though of all of the equipment that would be needed, where it was, where he would put it, and how much of which different medicines he would have to give his brother to sustain his life. Fear pulsed through Donatello every time he felt Mikey's faint heat beat, since he knew that his little brother didn't have much time left. If he was going to save him, they were going to have to get him to the Lair _fast!_

_I'm not going to lose you, Mikey,_ Don thought, feeling the determination rushing through him. _It's my job to take care of you, and I won't let you down, I promise. You'll get better again, and we'll figure out what happened to you. We'll fix this _together_, little brother. I'm not ready to lose you yet. I don't want to be the youngest, I don't want to be a team of three, I don't want to never see you smile again… if you die now Mikey, we'll all fall apart. You hold us together…_

Minutes later, even though it seemed like hours for the three worried brothers, they reached the Lair and got the youngest onto a cot in the Med Lab. Don started hooking up machines to Mikey- one to make sure he continued breathing, another which was a life-support machine, an IV to give him medicine right into his veins, a heart monitor, and an x-ray machine to see if he had any internal damage done after his long drop into the river.

Leo and Raph tried to help out as much as they could, but eventually Don had to shoo them out of the room because it was so much more difficult to work with them in the room. After what seemed like hours, Mikey was finally stable and starting to warm up some after the icy cold water. Don allowed Raph and Leo back into the room, telling them the good news.

"What could've caused this?" Leo asked at last, bringing life to the question that they had all been asking themselves since when they were on the rooftops.

"He hasn't been as… _happy_ lately, the more that you think about it," Don murmured, pressing his fingers to his temples. "But… that doesn't explain _why_ this happened."

"What about his journal?" Raph asked quietly. The room went silent. Everyone knew about Mikey's journal. It was specifically for _no one_ to read except for the youngest turtle. He told them that it contained all of his thoughts- whatever had been running through his head- and that if they ever looked in it… those thoughts would've be his anymore. They weren't allowed to even _touch_ his journal, let alone look in it.

"We can't," Leo replied, not wanting to betray his brother's trust any more than they apparently had. "That's _his_ journal; we can't just look through it!"

"Even if it'll tell us what was goin' on in tha' head of his?" Raph countered, glaring at the blue masked turtle. "I want ta _know_, Leo. Somethin' was hurtin' him so much… don't ya want ta know what it was?!"

"Yes," Leo answered honestly. "But that doesn't give us permission to go through his personal thoughts!"

"Do you really think that he's going to tell us himself?" Don asked, siding with Raph. "Leo, I think this might be an exception to that rule. He's never acted like this before. I want to be able to help him, and I can't do that if I don't know how he was feeling. _We_ can't help, Leo. We can't… not without reading his journal."

Leo glared at the genius of the family. He was right- as usual- and Leo hated it. If Mikey found out that they had gone through his journal, it might only push him over the edge even more. And _then_ how would they be able to help him? They would've just betrayed his trust even more than before.

"I refuse to read his journal," Leo muttered. "But… I won't stop you two from reading it. I'm going to stay here with Mikey in case he wakes up."

"If anything changes- his heart rate, his breathing, _anything_- call me," Don commanded before following Raph out of the room and over towards Mikey's room.

"Oh Mikey," Leo whispered once the two turtles were gone. "What happened? Please, come back to us… let us help you with whatever we put you through. Don't give up, you're stronger than that. Please…"

-x-

Hours later, the youngest turtle's eyes opened, a bright light glaring in his face. At first, he wondered if he was in heaven, but then when pain stabbed back through him life fire in his veins, he thought otherwise. Looking around, he spotted Leo next to the bed that he was laying on.

Wait, bed? Wasn't he just falling through the air… smashing into the river… no! They had found him, they had pulled him out… they had stopped him from finding his peace. And now, he never would. They would keep him trapped here forever, slowly torturing him.

"Mikey?" Leo asked softly. Mikey could hear the surprise in his voice, and that confused the youngest turtle. Was he surprised that he didn't die? Why would he care? "Mikey, how are you feeling?"

Now Mikey was really confused. Shouldn't he be mad that he had run off, that he tried to die and get away from them? Shouldn't he want him dead anyway? Mikey wasn't able to answer, his throat felt like sandpaper and he was only able to cough some as a response.

Leo suddenly jumped to his feet, running over to the door and shouting something that sounded like, "Don, he's awake!"

Mikey groaned and closed his eyes, pain consuming his entire body. As he looked around, he could see many machines all around him. One of them was connected to his arm… did Don really stick a _needle_ into his arm?! A loud beeping noise near his head started to get louder and quicker, which only managed to frighten the confused turtle even more. What was going on?

Heartbeats later, Don and Raph were rushing into the room. Don started checking the machines, noticing that the heart rate monitor was beeping much more than it should've been. Raph rushed over to Mikey's side, grabbing ahold of one of his hands.

"Mikey, you had all of us worried _sick!_" Raph whispered calmly, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. "What were you _thinking_, jumping into the river? Do you know how much you scared all of us?"

Mikey could hear the fear in his voice. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the lies. They didn't care, they never did! Why did they have to pretend now? Why couldn't they have just let him die peacefully, where he wouldn't have to be in any more pain?!

Raph's shoulders slumped a little, watching his little brother turn away from him. He had seen such awful pain in those clear, baby blue eyes of Mikey's. When had that pain first showed up? What had caused it? But no… he knew what caused it.

"We ain't goin' ta hurt ya, Mikey," Raph whispered. "We just want ta help ya get better. You mean more ta us than ya realize…" He had to choose his words carefully, not wanting to him to get suspicious. He didn't want Mikey to know that they had read his journal… they couldn't lose his trust again. "And we want ya ta get better, now… okay?"

There was no answer from the youngest turtle, but Raph knew that he had heard, whether or not he had believed what Raph told him was another story. Raph sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to get an answer from the youngest turtle any time soon.

"Don't worry, Mike," Raph sighed, standing up. "We _will_ win yer trust, one way or another."

-x-

It had been two weeks since the incident, and Mikey was slowly getting better. He sometimes even left the Med Lab for short periods of time, usually only a couple of minutes, but at least he was getting out and doing something other than just lying in bed.

Leo had been the only one to get him to say something so far. And that was only two words. Each brother had taken turns staying in the Med Lab with Mikey, each wanting to make sure that he got better. No matter how much they talked, they couldn't get him to say anything. They knew that he had heard what they had been telling him, but none were sure if he was actually _listening_ to them. Hearing and listening were two very different things.

But then one day, Mikey woke up from a nightmare, and was scared when he wasn't in his bed. But when he had seen Leo there with him, he curled up next to his oldest brother crying, and Leo had comforted his little brother. That's when Mikey talked to him for the first time in two weeks.

"I'm sorry," Mikey whispered, barely loud enough to hear through his whimpers and cries. Leo held him close that night, telling him that everything was going to be okay, and that they would never hurt him again. He told Mikey about how much each of his older brothers loved him, and it seemed that Mikey had actually listened that time. Leo told Mikey about how sorry he was, for everything that had happened, though Mikey kept shaking his head like he was trying to say 'it's not your fault'.

That night, Mikey started to truly get better.

Within two weeks, he was back training with his brothers, talking with them sometimes, but still holding back a lot. And they gave him time. They didn't push him to talk, or to train. They waited until he was ready, and he was thankful for that.

And one day, he was ready.

"Guys?" Mikey murmured, instantly catching the attention of everyone in the room. Three pairs of eyes turned to watch the youngest of the four ninja brothers. He still looked a little sickly, since a week ago he had caught a nasty flu for three days.

"Yes Mikey?" Don asked as the three brothers walked over to the youngest.

"I'm… I'm ready," the orange masked turtle said confidently, holding his head high. The three brothers saw a new light of determination glowing in those baby blue eyes, one that made their hearts soar. He was getting better, and this was going to finish his recovery.

The four brothers sat down in a circle. Mikey looked around, ensure of where he should begin.

"So…" He said quietly, looking around at the looks his brothers were giving him. Concerned looks, not mean glares… "Where do you want me to start?"

"At the beginning," Raph answered.

"Well, a long time ago, four baby turtles fell into the sewer drain and were mutated with this strange glowing ooze," Mikey began, laughing a little. "Two normal looking turtles, one ugly one, and one extremely handsome one."

"Not what I meant," Raph growled, a playful grin on his face.

"I guess… I guess everything was just catching up to me," Mikey replied at last. "Everything everyone had said… it never made a difference to me. I was used to it. Who wouldn't be? But then, everything just seemed… I don't know, _different_. Words stung like knives when I could just brush them off like flies before. I was nothing."

Mikey's gaze rested on Leo. "Leo was the most skilled one."

Mikey's gaze shifted over to Don. "Donny's the smartest one."

Mikey's gaze landed on Raph. "And Raph's the strongest one."

A sad smile crossed Mikey's face. "What am I? I'm the goofball, the screw-up, the one who messes everything up in the end. You all have to fix _my_ mistakes. I'm the nothing. What do I _do_ for this family anyway?!"

His glare rested on the three brothers in front of him, challenging them to talk. Leo spoke up first. "You're the one with the most potential of all of us. I've heard… I heard Master Splinter say so," Leo added. "You're the fastest of us four."

"Defiantly the most happy, out-going one of us all," Don added, smiling at Mikey. "You're the one who makes us smile and laugh. You brighten sour moods and make ninja training fun."

"Yeah," Raph agreed. "Ya keep us together, Mike. We couldn't live without ya. We would fall apart if ya ever left us." Raph closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I thought that we _were_ going ta lose ya. Ya really scared me, Mikey."

Mikey smiled, tears streaking down his cheeks. Maybe… just maybe… he did fit in. He _did_ contribute to the family. He did belong. Looking around the room at all of the smiling faces, Mikey felt for the first time in a few months that he had found his paradise. This was where he was meant to be- fighting alongside his brothers, holding everything together.

"Really?" Mikey whispered. He wasn't sure how happy one could feel, but he knew that his heart felt like it was going to explode. There was no way that this was real… it was too perfect. Mikey grabbed Leo and Raph, who were sitting on either side of him, shouting, "Group hug!"

The four brothers, laughing, shared a group hug for the first time in months. They knew that they would make it through these problems. Nothing could keep the four brothers apart for long. And this moment had just brought all of them closer. And as Mikey closed his eyes, he could no longer hear that nagging, lying voice in the back of his mind. He could only feel the love for his family pulsing through him with every beat of his heart.

**Sorry if that didn't have a whole dark ending like some people were probably hoping for. "All Gone" was what I was going to title it, and I was going to make them try to save Mikey for him to only die in their arms in the thunderstorm, telling them that he loves them. Or, something like that at least.**

**And then it got happy, and I couldn't kill my favorite character off. Hope this is a good ending!**


End file.
